


The Tempest

by nix1327



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Drabble, How Do I Tag, One Shot, Piano, mentions of jacob - Freeform, mentions of queenie, mentions of theseus, mentions of tina, percival graves can play the piano, slightly angsty but not really?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-04 08:56:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12165651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nix1327/pseuds/nix1327
Summary: Percival Graves was 4 years old when his mother first began teaching him how to play piano on her old Steinway & Sons grand.





	The Tempest

**Author's Note:**

> First ever fic so be nice, guys.  
> Also, this fic was not beta'd so no hate.

Percival Graves was 4 years old when his mother first began teaching him how to play piano on her old Steinway & Sons grand.He was 7 when he played his first sonata. 8 when he mastered it. Frédéric Chopin landed Percival his first girlfriend when he was 13 years old. He played for her Étude No. 2 in F Minor. Not shortly after, Percival landed his first boyfriend with the help of Mozart. Mozart soon became a favorite of his. Percival found solace in playing the piano after his mother died of consumption. He was 15 years old when he played Tchaikovsky at her funeral.

The older Percival got, the busier he became, the less he played piano. He was appointed the youngest Director of Magical Security for MACUSA when he was 26 years old. His mother’s old Steinway & Sons grand sat in his house in New York, collecting dust for the next 12 years after that.

When Percival returned home for the first time in months after his imprisonment by Grindelwald, he found his bed unmade, the sheets looking thoroughly slept in. Percival _always_ made his bed. He bought all new furniture for his house and threw away the old things. He burned whatever was left. However hard he tried, Percival could not bring himself to throw away his mother’s grand. He also could not bring himself to play it, not when he would always wonder if someone else had been playing it in his absence. Without his knowing, a heavy weight settled on Percival’s shoulders. He moved the piano to the library, threw a sheet over it, and let it be.

Years later Percival somehow found Newt Scamander, Tina Goldstein, Jacob Kowalski, Theseus Scamander, and Queenie Goldstein having drinks in his living room with him on a cold winter’s night. Even more surprising, he finds it has become a normal occurrence.

They take their drinks to the library to light a fire in the fireplace. Percival doesn’t notice Queenie get up and walk around. She runs her fingers over the spines of Percival’s many books. When she reaches the end of the bookcase she finds herself confronted by a large shape covered in a white sheet. She grabs the end of the sheet and pulls, coughing loudly as dust accumulated over a number of years settles around her. A beautiful, old Steinway & Sons grand sits in front of her. She looks back by the fireplace and sees Percival rise, the sharp edges of his face softened by the firelight. He walks over to Queenie with slow, hesitant steps; a far cry from his usually sure strides.

When Percival Graves was 10 years old his mother taught him how to play her favorite song on the piano. Beethoven’s Sonata No. 17. Or more commonly known as “The Tempest”. Percival’s favorite part had always been the 3rd movement because that was when Beethoven had finally come to terms with his deafness and found his sense of equilibrium, and he could tell that through the way his mother played the piece. Though the piece was written to be played at an allegretto tempo, Percival’s mother had always slowed it down in the beginning, yet played allegro at the end. “Because only after anguish and despair can you really understand what triumph is,” she had said to him. He had never completely understood what she had meant until now. 

Percival sat down at the bench and trailed his fingers over the piano, barely touching the ivory keys. His friends had since gotten up to stand by him and watch in eager anticipation. Theseus had only ever heard Percival play the piano once: during the war, to brighten the atmosphere after they had lost nearly a quarter of their men to a brutal battle earlier that day. Despite how long it had been, Theseus still remembers how amazed he had been when he had watched Percival play. How such powerful and dangerous hands could play so delicately and make such beautiful music was beyond him. All he knew was that he very much wanted to see it again. 

Percival’s hands hovered over the piano keys with a sense of doubt. It had been many long years since he had last touched a piano, much less played it. He centered himself with a breath. He let his fingers dance.

It was different than the other times he had played. Despite his long absence, Percival still remembered every stroke of a key; every movement felt familiar yet, what he was feeling was alien to him. It filled him with a warmth and light. He had been gone for so long. It made him feel as if he were returning home.

His fingers sped up as he neared the end of “The Tempest”. He felt a heavy weight come off his shoulders, a weight he had never even realized was there. He couldn’t help the smile or the slight laugh as he played. It was if he had died and was being reborn. His fingers came off the keys feather-light as he ended. He felt free.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Wowzers I have so much respect for writers who are posting things almost every day or even posting things at all. It's 1 a.m. and I was supposed to be starting an essay due this week but instead, I spent 2 hours writing this and I still only ended up with a little over 850 words.
> 
> Anyways, this fic was inspired by this clip--> https://youtu.be/CqDkDyA7QHE of Colin Farrell playing piano for Total Recall. I know it's in Spanish but you don't really need to know what they're saying, you can just listen to Colin Farrell playing piano. (God is there anything this man can't do?) Fun Fact: It is actually Colin playing the piano. The first song he plays is Moonlight Sonata and the second song he plays is the 3rd movement of The Tempest. Both songs were composed by Beethoven. If you want to hear all of movement 3 of The Tempest I suggest this link because it's played more like how Colin plays it --> https://youtu.be/ISIvTxz6Pqs
> 
> All positive and critiquing comments are welcomed. Please, if you see a mistake or something that doesn't make sense please let me know! And if you see something I could improve let me know! Or if you think this fic is good in any way let me know! Any feedback from you guys is always welcome. 
> 
> Thanks again for reading! Peace & love my dudes <3


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